Transcript

00:00:02

>> South Korea's bird flu alert is at its highest level for the first time ever. As officials warned that an outbreak of the virus has spread to birds nationwide. This virus appears to be more highly pathogenic and is spreading more quickly than in 2014. Since the virus flared up last month, authorities have killed and buried 15 million birds.

00:00:24

That's about 12% of the total poultry population. And as Jane Chung reports from Seoul, the virus is still spreading.>> The government has taken quarantine measures to stop the spread of the virus. But like asking farmers and poultry industry workers to disinfect their farms and factories. It also issued a temporary nationwide movement ban to prevent the wider spread of the virus, but despite all of these government's ongoing efforts, an increasing number of farms are reporting outbreaks.

00:00:56

>> Experts say the way South Korea raises poultry makes it prone to outbreaks. And some say blame for the rapid spread of this strain goes all the way to the top.>> The rapid spread is partly attributed to the government slow initial response, amidst a political scandal that has resulted in parliament voting last week to impeach President Park Geun-hye.

00:01:16

And besides that, Korea poultry industry raises chickens and ducks on a large scale, so Korea's battery farming is also seen as the reason behind increasing outbreaks.>> So far, this latest outbreak hasn't spread to humans in South Korea, but if it does, it could pose a serious threat.

00:01:34

This same type of bird flu has killed six people in China in the past two years.